Brighten fall landscapes with mums

Published 5:11 pm, Thursday, September 12, 2013

One of the nicest things to look forward to with the arrival of fall on Sept. 22 is the chance to get my hands back into the garden soil, replanting some of the worn-out annual flower beds with fresh new flowers.

This time, though, instead of frost-sensitive annuals, the beds will be "decorated" with a variety of truly classic fall plants, such as chrysanthemums, ornamental cabbage and kale and even brightly colored pansies.

Chrysanthemums, or mums, are perhaps the most widely planted fall flower. Actually, several flowers we call daisies, such as the ox-eye daisy, the painted daisy and the Shasta daisy, are technically chrysanthemums. The Chinese chrysanthemum, originally a daisy-like wild plant, had been cultivated in Chinese gardens for more than 2,500 years before it came West.

It wasn't until 1795 when the first real "garden" chrysanthemum was exhibited in England. Two hundred-plus years later, the chrysanthemum is a fixture in home gardens throughout the world, but remains the quintessential New England fall flower.

I've always used mums as late-season annual plantings and purchase them in bud and flower. Since they come potted in large six-inch pots, I can move the plants around in the garden until the color matches my idea of what a fall planting should look like.

Mums have a variety of uses in the garden and bring exciting new color to the landscape, but it is the scent of a mum's foliage that is surely something not to be missed.

Garden shops are full of lovely scented potted mums in bloom or just coming into bloom. They are easily transplanted to almost any partly sunny location, but do require good moisture in soil that is well-drained. Mums have very shallow roots, so a light layer of cedar mulch will help keep the plants moist.

Planting is simple once the bed has been cleared out of all the summer annuals, but it is important to remember to give the mums a firm packing into the soil and good drink of water to start them off. Mums can get very root-bound in pots, and if this is the case, I'll take a sharp knife and actually "butterfly" the roots open and plant the two halves into the soil.

Late in November after flowering, the mums from this bed will either be moved to a separate location or discarded before winter begins.

Mums are at their best, however, when they are wintered over and allowed to grow uninhibited (minus a few pinches during the summer) to really develop into large plants. Unfortunately, they can take up a lot of space during the summer months. There is little to show for all this effort until late in the season, since the majority of chrysanthemums are late-blooming, short-day plants with flowers initiated by decreasing day length.

As long as the temperatures remain above 27 degrees Fahrenheit, you can count on your mums providing an extravagant fall-time flower show.

Ornamental cabbage and kale are two fall plants that I have become quite fond of, if for nothing else than their cold hardiness. In fact, the colors from these two plants begin to mature as the days and nights become cold -- very cold. It's not unusual to see them still going strong well into December. But once the temperatures plummet into the teens, they are goners.

It is quite a sight to watch the rich cream, white, red and blue spectacles develop from within the plants. I like to use them interplanted in perennial gardens, but they also make excellent potted plants. Both of these large leafy plants need a sunny, well-drained location and enjoy plenty of water.

Don't forget window boxes

Like some of the flower beds, my window boxes also get a fall rejuvenation treatment, as well. By now, most window boxes are one gigantic root ball. The only thing to do is to remove the entire mass of plants and roots.

This isn't all that bad of an idea anyhow, since window box soil becomes so leached and worn that total soil replacement is the only clever thing to do. l refill the window box with the same rich mixture I use in the spring and summer: 1/3 screen compost, 1/3 screened garden soil and 1/3 soilless planting mix. I also mix in a few tablespoons of slow-release plant food like Osmocote and a water-absorbing polymer known as Hydrasorb.

I have a favorite flower and foliage combination that I like to use for the fall consisting of three yellow chrysanthemums planted with a delightful ruby-leaved hardy plumbago. In the front of the box lengthwise I'll plant a row of variegated ivy and in less than 15 minutes I've got an enchanting fall scene to enjoy while eating breakfast in the kitchen.

Mailbag

Q: My impatiens were wonderfully full of blossoms up until early August. Then many of them began to die and looked as if they had been hit by a frost. Would you have any idea what happened? J. Rengal, Easton

A.: There are a few of possible reasons why this happened: insufficient water, too much sun or plant disease. Impatiens are one of the thirstiest flowers in the garden, and unless your soil is poorly drained, it is very hard to overwater them. We had a relatively dry July and August, and unless you regularly watered them, the lower leaves turn yellow and eventually the plant shrivels up and dies.

Impatiens also enjoy full to light shade as strong sunlight and too little water can also cause them to burn. Lastly, there is always the possibility that your flowers succumbed to a fungal, bacterial or viral disease.

Q.: I enjoy saving my own garden seeds and was given a wonderful variety of tomato this year by a neighbor. I was told that the variety is a "genetically engineered" type and unlike hybrid seeds, I would be able to save them. Is it worth a try saving the seeds and planting next year? A. Farce, Southport

A.: I should think not. All genetically altered tomatoes are hybrids, and if you plant them you'll get some form of varied offspring. Just as for any hybrid, though, some progeny will exhibit the genetically engineered trait, and some of them won't.

Q: Is Indian corn edible? I'm referring to the type that is multicolored (maroon, red, yellow) and is used as a decoration in the fall. Are gourds edible if they are not coated in lacquer? Email from Bonnie

A.: If you cooked ornamental corn and ate it right off the cob, it would taste pretty bland, but it wouldn't hurt you. That's because it's all starch. During the early stages of corn's maturation process, the kernels are filled with a milky material that is primarily sugars, which is why it tastes so sweet when it's cooked. As the corn continues to age (such is the case with ornamental corn), those sugars break down into starches and the taste turns sour.

As for gourds, and I am referring to native North American species (Cucurbita) the answer is no, not poisonous, but I don't think you'd want to eat them. Many are bitter tasting and quite pithy, though some of the seeds aren't all that bad when dried and salted. Still, I don't think gourds should really be on the menu.

Readers are invited to submit garden tips and questions to this column. Questions of general interest will be published as space permits. Mail to: Bing J. Carbone, 5 High Meadow Road, Huntington CT 06484 or email bjcgardens@aol.com.